Breast Cancer Density — What An Oncologist Wishes You Knew
Published in
7 min readOct 29, 2022
BREAST DENSITY IS A MEASURE OF BREAST PROPORTIONS of fibrous and glandular tissue, compared with fat tissue. We begin with a brief quiz:
Which of the following statements is/are FACT?
- A. Breast cancer incidence is increased for those with a greater proportion of dense breast tissue on mammograms.
- B. Dense breast tissue can interfere with identifying cancer on mammograms.
- C. Both A and B.
You are correct if you guessed C (both A and B).
If a recent mammogram showed you have dense breast tissue, you might be concerned about what this means for your breast cancer risk. Today, we explore the implications of having dense breasts.
Breast density basics
Breast density measures the ratio of fibrous and glandular tissue (that is, fibroglandular tissue) in your breast, compared with fat tissue. Density has nothing to do with size or firmness.
Breasts are milk ducts, lobules, and fatty and fibrous connective tissue. The ducts are the tiny tubes carrying milk from the…
